The voyage was long, the food quotas
on the ship meager and the life tedious, but the Bohemians took it all in their stride.
Every day took them nearer to their
land of promise in the southern seas and they felt that their discomfort was a
insignificant price to pay for the prosperity that lay ahead of them.
For the first few weeks, the sailing
was calm. An occasional rough patch brought many of the passengers to their bunks and the
lowest ebb of existence but they soon recovered and set themselves to make the best of
life at sea.
The accordions and the fiddles were
bought out and the Scotties in the other part of the ship must have been strickened with
suprise and disbelief when the dudelsack came out and they discovered that the bagpipes
were not their exclusive national instrument. There was dancing on the deck, children to
entertain and keep out of mischief, yarns to tell about the old country and speculations
to make about the new.
It was to much to anticipate this
could last though-out the voyage. Benedict Remiger's account tells graphically what
happened next.
"It was a beautifully mild and
peaceful evening. No wind ruffled the wide expanse of glassy sea. The lonely watcher on
the deck of our little boat was silent and still. Then there came a rattling of spars,
ropes and sails. A breeze. The watcher stirred himself, adjusted the sheets to suit the
change and returned to the tiller. Soon it was darkening quickly and the wind was rising
so briskly that he had to vacate his place and adjust the sails.
"The sleepers below, awakened
by the sudden change came up onto the deck. A consultation with the fellow at the helm
followed, then all looked at the sky. A cloud to the south attracted their attention. With
the trustworthy instinct of the sailor they knew what was expected and prepared for it.
Hastily they reefed the sails and examined the ropes all being in readiness they sat down
to wait the arrival of the gale.
"Up to this time the passengers
were calm. Few, if any thought they could, in a matter of minutes, be sent to a watery
grave.
"The tackle creaked with the
rising gale, the vessel reeled under its weight but righted itself again. The sea was
angry, sullen and malicious. It's waves were crested with snow-white foam but the little
vessel still bravely help its course and sturdily defied the tempest.
"The group at the stern were
appalled at the sudden change but even then there was little excitement amongst the
passengers and no panic.
"Again a wave, a monstrous
curler rushed at us. It raised its foam-crest head in fury at the fast rushing vessel. It
struck and the boat reeled and creaked from the stern to stern. All stood still, but the
gallant little vessel held its course.
"The storm passed but the
impact had had left its victim. It had smashed to matchwood some unrestrained timber on
the deck and crushed beneath it the body of Lorenz TURNWALD - a Bohemian pioneer. This cast a mantle of
despondency, not only over the Bohemian but over the whole ship.
"The following day, his body,
sewn in a canvas bag with a weight attached to its feet, was consigned to the ocean in the
presence of his wife and five children.
"Death and burial at any time
and in any place is a lonely sight, but God defend us from death and burial at sea.
A sailor might differ with this but
there is an authentic landsman shudder in the words. However, life goes on and the balance
rights itself. The TURNWALD
children had lost their father, but seven
babies were born on the voyage.
The last thrill before the the WAR
SPIRIT made land in Auckland, NZ, was provided by the ship's ocean-going cow. She was
tethered on the deck just above the young men's quarters. A powerful wind was blowing and
the ship was reeling. As it mounted a wave, the tether broke and the cow was hurled, in a
deluge of sea water,down into the young men's quarters. In the ensuring pandemonium, they
thought at first that a whale had come down on them, then they thought is was a mermaid,
ultimately they found that it was just the cow.
She was hauled up on to the deck by
ropes, quite uninjured and, after her adventurous voyage, was sold for a worthy price in
Auckland complete with her new name "Mermaid".
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